My 18th century wardrobe full of pretty, pretty princess clothes – silk and frills galore – but not much in the way of practical clothing. If I’m being honest, lower class clothing just doesn’t appeal. But after I made my brown wool petticoat, I knew I needed another jacket to go with it, something I wouldn’t be afraid to get dirty or messy. Enter the teal ikat jacket!

The jacket is made from a cotton ikat (a super cheap ebay find) and lined in brown linen. Its machine sewn with hand finishing, and the neckline and sleeves are trimmed with box pleated self-fabric strips. The pattern based off the famous swallow tail jacket in Costume Close Up, only I modified the tails in back. Unfortunately, the ikat stretched like crazy and I had to add tucks and a drawstring to the neckline to make it fit after it was finished. Seriously, I’ve never had a fabric stretch that much! Luckily, the trimming hides it and the finished jacket looks ok.

Sorry for the lack of construction details on the jacket. It was a quick project and I was in such a rush that I didn’t take a single in progress photo. Oops!